Well, the stimulus seems to have been passed, in part, on the backs of children. TPM got their hands on a draft of the conference agreement, and here are some of the losses in education:
- The $500,000,000 new work study program for college students has been cut to $200,000,000.
- Funds for school technology cut from $1 billion to $650,000,000.
- The entire $14 billion fund for K-12 school construction has disappeared, though states can apply for construction dollars from a separate "stabilization fund."
- $24,000,000 for innovation and improvement in the charter school sector is totally gone.
In better news, the House won out on teacher quality, preserving $100,000,000 for teacher residency programs bringing new teachers into high-need schools. And despite the cuts, this spending still represents the largest single investment ever into the Department of Education -- an investment that is greater than the current department's discretionary budget. --Dana Goldstein